


Treefood

by ollertonEX



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-28
Updated: 2017-11-28
Packaged: 2019-02-08 05:04:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12857343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ollertonEX/pseuds/ollertonEX
Summary: Taako's forgetful.





	Treefood

**Author's Note:**

> im posting this from my phone   
> im so tired  
> enjoy my thing

It had been a strange state of affairs.

To start, Taako had been acutely aware that something was off. No, not necessarily off so much as… completely-ass-backwards. He was distantly aware of heels clicking on the floor below him as he moved to stir something-- oh, wait... That’s his hand holding the spoon?

A long fingered, manicured hand held a wooden spoon over a pot, bubbling with something that he could vacantly label as smelling ‘pretty well spiced’, even from a short distance. The moment felt hazy, like it was threatening to stop being there if he stopped focusing for just a second.

Out of the corners of his vision, Taako could see long locks of blond falling over his shoulder; definitely his hair. But was that hand in front of him, attached to the rest of that arm, really his…? 

Before any other thoughts could try and break to the forefront of his mind, something grabbed his shoulder. In a flash, Taako swiveled his entire body, wielding the spoon with a wide eyed stare as if to ward off whoever this attacker could be in his… own kitchen.

The foe was none other than a mirror image of himself. Her hair was shorter, lips a bit fuller, eyes a little brighter… Not quite his mirror. But as he was distracted by that, she had moved to take his hand with the spoon and push it back over to the pot, saying something… something he couldn’t place through the piercing noise in his brain. Something about ‘dripping sauce everywhere’.

It could be easily said that Taako didn’t feel right. She kept a hand on his shoulder, peering into his vision, asking something… but one of his hands had gone to rub his face, something akin to a migraine spreading like vines through his skull. Throbbing. Agonizing. Someone else was hovering, all but blocking out the nearby window’s light as he quietly asked as to the state of their companion. 

“...you okay? Hey, Taako?” 

Taako raised his head, squinting at the blurry form of someone familiar, at least; Magnus. He looked concerned. And when Taako didn’t respond, he glanced to the right, making eye contact with Lup, who was just about to tell Taako something, but… 

“I’m fine, I’m… god, lemme just…”

Waving a hand, he managed to shrug off the one on his shoulder, sliding down the counter’s exterior until he was seated on the floor, back to the cabinets, both hands over his head. Something was churning in his stomach, making it nigh impossible to deny the concept that he was about to be sick. Gods, please, not in my kitchen. 

It takes a few minutes before it feels like the world returns to normal, no longer that staggering nowhere, a pocket out of time that feels too out of place to be real, but too real to be… not real.

By the time his brain clears, he still has that dull throbbing, but Taako can see two people crouched nearby. Lup sitting crossed legged, leaning in to keep an eye on her brother, and Magnus, one knee on the ground, both hands on the other bent leg. Both look addled with concern, but the real Taako starts to seep out again, and he gives them both a Look with a capital L.

“Guys… you can get up now. Taako’s good. Just…” he waved a hand again to brush the moment off like they were cobwebs. 

“...Are you okay? Like, sure you’re okay, bro?” She asks carefully, like any more pressuring beyond that could shatter whatever fragility was present. Part of him resented that, being treated like glassware; the rest…

“Yeah, you were out of it, Taako. Uh… You need a hand up?” It takes a second to register, but one outstretched, calloused palm was in the forefront of Taako’s vision, awaiting an elven hand to simply take it. Take the help, dingus. Isn’t that what you’ve wanted?

In some act of defiance, Taako huffs, one hand grabbing the cabinet door behind him to help his own self to his feet. It takes a few agonizing moments for Lup and Magnus to just… watch this unfold, desperately teetering on the edge of wanting to help, but not wanting to overstep anything. 

Clearly this was something he wanted to go through himself for the moment. That’s all that could be said as Taako unsteadily moved to pick up the wooden spoon he’d been holding from the pot, yammering on about how he really didn’t need a bunch of babysitters.

Denial was one of his strong suits. That much couldn’t be denied. 

=====

He could remember being in bed. In fact, he was in bed at that very moment, waking from some restless dream, it felt like… and before his eyes even opened, Taako took a slow inventory of the scene.

Cool breeze. Nighttime, probably. A few layers of blankets were over him, and the bed felt familiar, but not enough to definitively say he knew which location he was in. He could feel his braid was undone, as hair was spilling out, tickling his bare shoulders with the waves.

His eyes opened to a dark room. In the dimly lit place, he could see a gathering of knick knacks lining shelves alongside books, a collection of memorabilia and the like. It took only a few more seconds to register this was Lup and Barry’s place. The bed was more than big enough for two, he would always note, but this time it was shockingly empty. ...Save for Taako.

Evidently, he’d been put to bed. He didn’t feel drunk, so scratch that reason off the list. He was wearing a shirt at least three sizes too big-- definitely not his own -- and a pair of leggings. No shoes. His boots were by the bed, but as he got out from under the layers of warmth, opted to favor on the side of stealth to see where everyone else could be.

His steps were nearly silent as he crept down the hallway. Barry and Lup’s home wasn’t big; two small stories of housing that served its purpose to be lodging for two liches who didn’t always need it. Still, Barry had remarked, it was nice to have one place to keep all their shit.

Light was emanating from the floor below. The hallway led into a guest room and a flight of stairs, but the hall itself was like a balcony overlooking their living space below. Two couches and an armchair were occupied by Lup, Barry, Magnus, and one sleeping Angus McDonald. Merle could be seen stirring a cup of something tea related at their coffee table, and conversation was quiet, but continuous.

“...I mean, there has to be something we can do.” Lup had her knees up to her chest, leaning against Barold.

“Right?” Chimed Magnus. “There’s just… I don’t know what are options are, but…” He trailed off, looking far less confident than he had in starting that statement.

“Has he mentioned anything bothering him?” Merle, opting to cool his tea off before chugging it one go, was taking a seat on the floor.

“Dude. You can tell from looking at him that something’s wrong.” Lup again.

Taako couldn’t help but feel, at that point, the conversation was about him. He couldn’t recall being here at Lup and Barry’s house to begin with.

He was biting his nails.

“I’m trying to make a point here. You can’t help someone who doesn’t want to be helped. What if he wants to take this at his own pace? ...It’s scary for us to see, but at the end of the day, it’s his choice.” And the tea was chugged, in one go, as he expected.

Silence fell over the group, save for Angus’ quiet snoring.

“Should…” Magnus cleared his throat. “Should we ask Kravitz? I mean… we all know Taako pretty well at this point.” Well, duh. 100+ years will do that to you. “But he has a… different connection here. Should… we…?”

Quiet again as Merle put his cup back on the table.

“Yeah. That’s a good idea, Mags.” Lup was rubbing her face with one hand, Barold’s arm around her back.

Suddenly, Taako didn’t want to be there anymore.

====

When he’s sitting in Barry and Lup’s bed, his toes brushing against the hardwood flooring, Taako can vaguely remember when this first started happening.

It hadn’t been too long ago. Since the Day of Story and Song, he’d been having trouble… parsing himself out, so to speak. There were good days, great days, excellent Taako-is-the-best days, but on the other end of that spectrum, there were neutral days. Bad days. Horrible days, days of Taako-can’t-remember-how-to-cook days, days of migraines and questioning his reality and which memory he’s experiencing is the real one.

And he can vaguely recall the first time he had a day like the last type.

He had been in the Bureau's moonbase, waiting on his new home to be built planetside. Everyone was still hanging around the base, from Magnus preparing to start his work in Ravensroost, and Lup with her new body, and…

And he couldn’t remember what he was doing. Standing behind the stovetop, garbed in an apron, looking down at a pan of something grilling over the flames, staring so intently, a pair of tongs in his hand, and it struck him out of seemingly nowhere.

Taako couldn’t remember what he was doing. Or what he was holding. Or what that was producing smoke. Or where he was. Like a momentary blank slate, he’d moved back from the flames, dropping the tongs and stepping back and away from the stove, back, back, back until he hit the table, both hands grasping for dear life against its edge as the panic took over.

His brain had been thoroughly scrambled by being inoculated in ways he wouldn't come to fully grasp for awhile. Not until he’d find himself in someone else’s clothes, overlooking the balcony in his sister’s home, hearing his loved ones talk about him like he’d undergone some horrible transformation.

And now they were dragging someone else into the mix? Fuck no. 

Back at the hallway, Taako was turning to stalk back into Lup and Barry’s room, forgetting entirely that he was supposed to be stealthy. Every conscious head turned to look up as footfalls drifted away to another room, and Lup immediately shot up from the couch, hop skip and jumping her way up the flight of stairs. 

“Koko?” She called out, making her way across the hall to her bedroom, finding her brother on her bed, shoving on his boots. And for a moment, seeing him with his hair down and wild, hurriedly putting his shoes on, she… 

She lost whatever she was going to tell him. Whatever comforting thing, no matter how rushed, was gone. Lup stood staring at her brother, unsure of how to proceed. 

He wasn’t talking. 

She wasn’t either.

They’d both changed, and it was clear that both of them were… anxious about how to proceed. But before anything could be said, Taako had gotten off the bed, and blinked out of the house.

Any meaningful discussion about the state of Taako Taaco’s mental wellbeing wasn’t going to happen that night for sure. 

====

It wasn’t like he was gone for long. The next morning, he was in the kitchen, making enough breakfast items to feed a veritable army. No one woke up to his coming in, no one stirred from the couches or upstairs as he made french toast and eggs and bacon and everything that a breakfast needed.

Consciously, Taako was aware that it hadn’t been an attack on his mental faculties.

However, seeing that Taako was Taako, the natural thing was to leave, and return when most convenient for him. Which… was the next morning, as Magnus woke up to the smell of oil frying something nearby. 

It was easy to tell that Magnus was up. Every footstep he took made the flooring creak, so Taako could greet him without even turning around. “Mornin’, Mags.”

Groggily, the fighter approached, patting Taako on the back as gently as he could muster in his sleepy state of existence with a mumbled, ‘Morn.’ 

He leaned against the counter as Taako was still preparing a collective sum of a ‘fuckton’ of goods, becoming more awake as the moments ticked by. Neither of them needed to say anything yet. Just appreciating the smell of good food and trying to be in denial that the evening before had even happened.

“So. Heard you guys gossiping about ol’ Taako last night.” 

Ah. So a discussion was going to occur.

Magnus was still groggy, but the blunt statement was enough to make his eyes open a little wider. “Uh… am I really the person you wanna talk about that with?” He whispered back, as though someone else would be offended that they were discussing this.

Without looking up, Taako responded. “I don’t care.” Furiously scrambling his eggs with a drawn brow. “Just wanted to say something. Didn’t matter who to, y’know. You’re just the first one up.”

The hollowness of that wasn’t lost on Magnus as he frowned, arms crossing. “I don’t really believe that! You can be upset all you want, but…”

And he laughed. “Oh! But what, Maggie?” Taako turned, holding the spatula up semi threateningly. “I am upset. If ya’ll have a problem, you can take it up with Taako himself. Doin’ a dance around it isn’t gonna make any difference. And, y’know what? You better not tell him I said this, cuz I’ll never live it down, but Merle was right. Have any of you even asked me if I wanna…”

He leaned back, making a gesture with his hands like he was buffering.

“...wanna… fix something here..?! As if there’s anything to fix! Sure, you can use medicine or magic or whatever to fix a broken leg, but you can’t fix this.” He smacked the eggy spatula against his head. 

In the moments that followed, it became agonizingly clear that something had been lost here. Magnus and Taako stared into each others’ eyes, focused, in a battle of wills. In the end, both lost out as Magnus turned away to see Angus stirring on the couch, and Taako was trying to pick the pieces of now burnt egg out of the pan, cursing quietly.

In their 100+ years of being family, there were a lot of truths that remained consistent across cycles. One of them was Magnus loving unconditionally.

And even as Taako pushed, without having to look back at him, Magnus whispered one more thing to him.

“You don’t have to go through it alone. We shoulda talked to you first, but we’re worried. So…”

One hand reached out to pat Taako’s shoulder again as Magnus went to greet Angus and shake Merle awake as Lup and Barry exited their room, giving their good-morning greetings to meet up with the others down below.

And no one asked Taako why he’d left as soon as he did. Or tried to interfere with his making breakfast, outside of Lup asking if he wanted help, before getting a snort of ‘I’m good, Lulu. Just chill.’

Everyone in the assembly enjoyed a professionally made breakfast, and no one pushed, prodded or pried.

What did happen, was Lup asking Taako during washing the dishes, if he wanted to talk.

Shockingly enough, this didn’t prompt an immediate response. What she received was a slowly thought out answer, halfway through his drying off a plate.

“...Yeah. Some other time, though.”

…

At least it was a start.


End file.
